


After Falling

by just_another_fandom_freak1221



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, But Percabeth is OTP so #worth it, Depression, F/M, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Oneshot, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, The House of Hades Spoilers, The Mark of Athena Spoilers, percabeth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-17
Updated: 2016-11-17
Packaged: 2018-08-31 11:13:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8576218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/just_another_fandom_freak1221/pseuds/just_another_fandom_freak1221
Summary: Annabeth Chase and Percy Jackson aren't the same after escaping from the pits of Tartarus. Both are suffering from PTSD and both seem to be broken beyond recognition, but it's been quite a few months since they escaped that hell hole and with both of them finding strength in each other, they start to realize something... they're starting to heal.





	

**Author's Note:**

> So I recently decided to re-read The Heroes of Olympus, (which was a bad idea as I'm now filled with too many feels to properly function) and I know everybody and their mothers Has probably wrote about this but it's two in the morning and I can't sleep and I haven't posted in a couple of months so I figured I'd just post this because I'm mildly pleased with how it came out.

**Annabeth's POV**

After Tartarus, Percy and I, we were different. And I know what you’re thinking, well no shit Annabeth, Who wouldn’t be different after literally falling into hell? I know, I know, everyone around us knew we were different, but nobody seems to realized just how different we are.  
For months after getting out of there, My Percy wasn’t the same fun loving, witty person he was before the fall. The light in his eyes was gone most of the time when I’d look at him during the day. Whenever we weren’t busy doing something, if we didn’t have anything to occupy our minds, I could physically see him change. He’d get this look in his eyes that would just break my heart. Those beautiful sea green eyes would glass over, and I knew, I always knew, he was thinking about what happened while we were down there. Remembering the blistering heat, the constant onslaught we faced from monsters...the feeling of hopelessness that would wash over both of us. When this happened to him, there wasn’t anything I could do that would help him. All I could do was hold him, hold him close to me and foolishly pray that the memories would stop haunting him.  
The absolute worst thing about coming back though was the nightmares. We were half-bloods, so it’s not like we weren't used to being disrupted by terrible things while we slept, but any other nightmare I’d had were mild, almost happy compared to the ones I got after Tartarus.  
In the beginning, every night both Percy and I would wake up screaming and panicked. The dreams were just so real. When I slept, I could feel the blistering heat on my skin again, and that alone was enough to make me panic. The only thing that kept me sane was Percy, Every night, he was there to chase the dreams away, and I did my best to do the same for him.  
Night after night, I’d wake up sweaty, crying and shaking so hard when Percy held me he’d shake too. With Percy’s arms wrapped around me, I was able to calm down quicker. After I was quieted down, Percy would pass out from exhaustion. Both of us were only getting a few hours of sleep each night. After I woke up from my nightmares, I usually wouldn’t fall asleep again for a few hours. I’d lay awake and focus only on Percy. The man who kept me alive down there, the man I loved more than anything else in this world. I focused on his breathing, on his hair, on anything about him that could keep me occupied. After about an hour or two, his dreams would become too much for him, and he’d start shaking and crying and muttering. He’d say my name a lot, and that hurt my heart too. Percy is the type of guy to blame himself for everything, even things completely out of his control, and I knew he’d always blame himself for me going down there. I’d always wake him gently, and hold him close as he cried on my shoulder. Listening to strangled sobs escape from him every night, I couldn’t help that I sometimes cried with him. We calm down then and lay there in our bed, holding onto each other, and try to find the strength to get up and get through another day. We did this every night, for months upon months, but recently, something changed.  
Both of of found, about a month ago, we could sometimes sleep through the night, Sure we still had nightmares at least twice a week, but that didn’t matter as much to us anymore, because _we were healing._  
We found strength in each other. I got myself busy again with rebuilding Mt. Olympus. Percy enrolled in School, he started spending more time with his mom. We spent more time with our friends, rekindled friendships that had come to a halt. When we came back, no one would treat us the same, and we locked up, and we looked scary as hell, so people started to shy away from us. But we found ways to fix that.  
I spent more time with Piper, she helped find ways to get me to laugh, and to get the shine back in my eyes, (and back into my hair as it was completely fried out after all the heat from that hell hole). For the first time in a long time, I felt like I was living again. Percy spent more time talking to Nico. Nico knew what we went through, and Percy had always liked him. He treated him like a little brother. We’re happier now than we have been in a long time and it feels nice.  
Percy and I, we found a way to live again, and I know that maybe we won’t ever stop being completely affected by what happened to us down there, but I do know one thing for certain, We would be okay, something like little old Tartarus, couldn’t stop us from living the best goddamn lives that we could.


End file.
